Silicon carbide (SiC) is a very important material for many high-performance applications as a result of its exceptional electronic, physical, and chemical properties. Its wide band gap, high strength, thermal stability, and chemical inertness have led many to regard SiC as a promising substitute for silicon for high power, high temperature, high frequency electronics.1-6 These properties also make SiC ideal for integration into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for harsh environment sensing applications.7 As with many other materials, the current decades-long trend towards size reduction to nanoscale dimensions has led to a variety of new applications for SiC, arising from the emergence of size-dependent properties not found in the bulk material, as well as the increased surface area leading to greater interfacial areas and interactions.
Similar to other Group IV semiconductor nanocrystals such as silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge), SiC nanocrystals (SiC-NCs) have shown tremendous potential for optoelectronic applications as a result of their size-dependent optical and electronic properties.1 The confinement of charge carriers in semiconductor nanocrystals and resulting enhancement of the probability of radiative recombination, known as quantum confinement, is an effective method for tailoring photoluminescence (PL) properties in size-controlled nanocrystals. This strategy has been applied to Si and Ge nanocrystals that have exhibited PL maxima spanning the near infrared (NIR) and visible spectrum.8-10 Recently, similar successes in realizing control and increased stability of blue and UV PL from SiC-NCs,11-14 spectral regions not easily accessed with Si-based systems, have demonstrated the potential for SiC in PL applications in this spectral regime. Furthermore, the stability of SiC-NC photoluminescence in aqueous media15 together with its biocompatibility16 make them ideal for biological fluorescence imaging ideal for heterogeneous catalyst supports.21 
The most common approach for the preparation of SiC-NCs involves the electrochemical etching of bulk SiC wafers to yield porous SiC,11 from which isolated nanocrystals can be obtained after grinding17 or sonication.1, 12, 13 These and other synthetic approaches, including ion implantation, thermal processing of C60-loaded porous Si, and chemical vapour deposition have recently been reviewed.1 
For many applications, the production of size selected nanocrystals is vital. The size-dependence on PL wavelength is well established, with the consequence that specific nanocrystal sizes with small size polydispersity are required for narrow emission bands at the desired wavelength. It has also been shown that the Young's modulus and strength of particulate-polymer composites are strongly dependent on nanocrystal size below a diameter of ca. 20 nm,22 further highlighting the importance of narrow size distributions. Ironically, the thermodynamic stability of SiC that gives rise to many of its desirable properties also imposes synthetic challenges for the production of size-controlled SiC-NCs. In particular, typical size tuning approaches used for analogous Si-based systems, especially chemical etching, are not as accessible to SiC. Nevertheless, with a suitable synthetic approach, size control can be achieved in situ during nanocrystal formation and growth. This has been demonstrated with the formation of SiC-NCs from laser pyrolysis of gaseous mixtures23 and from the electrochemical etching of SiC wafers.1, 13 
Ceramic prepolymers such as, polyorganosiloxanes (or polysilsesquioxanes)24, 33, 34 and polycarbosilanes,35-37 have been studied as precursors to SiC.